Nina's Destiny Short Story
by MeggieBlack
Summary: For those of you who read Nina's Destiny, I'm posting short stories on this fanfic that relate to it. Please enjoy them.
1. Don't Come Home Late

**We've been doing narratives in school. A prompt was to write about a time you got in trouble. I asked my teacher, who has been reading this story, if I could write about a time in Nina's childhood when she got n trouble. She said yes, so I wrote it. Here it is guys.**

I was as nervous as a rabbit standing in the way of a charging hippopotamus. Orange light washed over me. I stuck my hands in the forest-green sweatshirt Morgan had lent me. It was cyclopean on me, but I didn't care. My apartment building loomed in front of me. I scrutinized the revolving doors. People bustled around behind me on the swamped streets of Manhattan. Why couldn't I go home with you and Di, Morgie? I pondered.

Procrastinating slightly, I shuffled through the glass doors. I thought back to the reason I came home so late: my best friends.

Morgan Ross, my best friend, had just said something stupid to his twin sister, Diane. I had giggled as Diane smacked Morgan upside the head.

"Stop being immature, Morgan," Diane had groaned.

"Sorry, Di," Morgan had laughed. He had checked his watch. "Uh oh, Nina, you need to get home. Here, take my sweatshirt. It's cold."

I had shrugged on the sweatshirt while running from Benny's to Penn Station.

"You're home late, Christina," Eddie called from behind his desk.

"I was at the movies with some friends," I mumbled, making my way to the elevator. When the doors opened, I ambulated in, dragging my feet, and pressed the button for the fifth floor. What's the chance Sally was worried about me? I thought cynically. My wonderful mother was liable not to have even noticed I was gone.

The door to my apartment screeched as it opened. Cringing, I closed the door gingerly behind me. All the lights were off. Maybe no one's home! I hoped. Cautiously and quietly, I made my way to my room. I had almost made it to the hallway when I heard the sound of the light switch being turned on.

"Where do you think you're going, girl?" Sally's voice was cold and harsh. It cut into me like a hot knife that was just put on a fryer.

"To my room," I squeaked, backing up against my door. I gestured to the oak door that was pressed against my scarred back.

"Where were you?" hissed Sally, leering over my minute frame.

"A-At the movies with M-Morgan and Diane," I whimpered. "You said I could go, Mother."

"Don't lie to me!" screeched my mother. "I did not say you could go out!" My mother had a reputation for being scary, but she never scared me that much.

Is Sally going to hit me? I mentally shouted. I tried to make myself shorter. Terrified, I shrunk into myself as much as I could. I was as frightened as a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. Sally had never hit me before. Gabe, my stepfather, was always finding excuses to beat Percy and me, but Sally had never raised a hand against either of us.

My fears proved true as Sally raised her hand and brought it down against my tan cheek. The resounding CRACK! was the sound of my skin splitting. A lukewarm trickle of blood dribbled down my bruising cheek. Tears began forming in my eyes. I was sure the neighbors had heard the sound. I raised my shaking hand to my cheek. There wasn't a lot of blood, but it was definitely there. The hot, acrid tears began rolling down my cheeks.

"Go to your room," Sally growled. "You're grounded for two weeks." She spun on her heel and left the hallway.

I turned, entered my room, and collapsed onto my bed. "She hit me," I gasped. Fresh tears poured down my cheeks in torrents. My once smooth skin was rough around the split. Because my tears were so salty, they antagonized the minor wound. I looked over to the mirror. The bruise was darker than a starless night. Why am I not good enough for her? I couldn't help but wonder.


	2. Ralph the Rock Monster Pt1

**Here's another short story. It has two parts. I will write the second part later.**

The day my husband brought home a pet rock, I should have known something was wrong. It had been a perfectly normal day. I had just got off the I.M. with my brother, Percy, and his wife, Lavender. I was putting breakfast on the table, pancakes to be exact, when my loving husband through open the door to our home.

"Breakfast is ready," I had called to him.

"I'll be there in a sec, Sparkles!" Apollo had shouted back. "I brought home a friend."

I didn't think much of it then. Normally when Apollo said he was bringing home a friend, it was Artemis or Hermes. I had no reason to mistrust my dear husband. Said husband had basically skipped into the room, clutching _something_ to his chest. Here I must stress s_omething._ No, it was not his pet rock. This _something_ just so happened to be _food _for the pet rock. You heard me properly. I did indeed just say _food._

"Whatcha got there?" I had asked. Oh, how I would come to regret that innocent question.

"Food for our new pet rock," Apollo had said simply.

Now, dear readers, you may be thinking that this is where I might begin to doubt poor Apollo's mental sanity, but no! This isn't where I began to question my husband. I simply nodded my head, used to my husband's ridiculous antics. I was used to him turning up with odd items. But what happened next, I was not prepared for that.

"Come in, Ralph," Apollo had shouted into the front hall, which was connected to our kitchen. I had simply rolled my eyes at my husband and turned back to the griddle. It wasn't until I heard the grinding of moving rock that I turned back around. I had assumed that Apollo was using his powers to make the rock move. It was far from that.

Walking into my kitchen at a slow, leisurely pace was a rock. Yes, a rock was _walking_. Not only was it _walking_, but it was also _breathing_, and _staring_ directly at me. It was not just painted on eyes, either. Oh no. It had human eyes. Large, blue, glassy human eyes with huge pupils. the rock monster had looked directly at me. As ashamed to admit it as I am, I need to. I had screamed and jumped behind Apollo. Here, right in front of me was a living, breathing rock. Apollo, the ever chivalrous man that he was, had started laughing at me.

Now, here is when I started doubting Apollo. For millennia, my husband had fought monsters. Yet, here he was, laughing his godly ass off as a rock demon-nearly twice his size, might I add-trudged it's way into our kitchen. I was almost positive Apollo was insane, or perhaps he was possesed. Apparently, I was incorrect with both guesses.

For the next two weeks, the rock monster lived in our house. Freya, my daughter, adored the monster. I was beginning to warm up to the monster. Oh, I should never have left it home by itself. If I had just waited until Apollo got back this mess never would have happened. What's done is done though. Now I'll just need to find a way to get out of the trouble I ended up in.

I opened the door to our palace on Olympus. It looked as if a major earthquake had just been through, followed by a tsunami. Frowning, I raised my wand and flicked it. The mess was instantly cleaned up. "Hell," I called out. "Is anyone home?" There was just the sound of grinding. It was coming from the kitchen. I was about to step into the kitchen when a vision hit me.

_I had stepped into the kitchen. I was shocked by what I saw. There were seven stone statues. The first was Hestia. Then was Hera, Demeter, my dad, Hades, Persephone. The last one was of a little girl. "Freya," future me whispered. Ralph was standing in front of Freya and a little to the left. He was carrying a statue over his shoulder. He put it down. "Apollo!" future me said. Ralph heard future me. He turned around, grinning. He reached out faster than I had ever seen him move. Future me tried to back away, but she didn't move in time. Ralph grabbed her arm. Her skin began to harden. Slowly, her body was being replaced by stone._

**I snapped out of my vision. I backed away from the kitchen door. I could hear Ralph moving around inside. When I was out of earshot, I ran outside. I needed help. Two names immediately flashed through my mind. I needed to find Leo and Vati.**

**To be continued.**


	3. Ralph the Rock Monster Pt2

**Part II of the Ralph story**

* * *

I immediately ran into Leo and Vati's palace. "Are you guys home?" I shouted out.

"What's up, Nina?" Vati asked as she came down the stairs, holding her newborn son.

"Oh gods, it's awful. We need Leo too." As I said it, Leo came stampeding down the stairs.

"S'up," he grinned.

"You guys remember Ralph, right?" I asked. My friends nodded. "Well, he's evil. He's turned seven gods and Freya to stone. What do we do?"

"Okay, let's think," Vati said, falling back onto her couch. Leo sat next to his wife and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Who was turned to stone?"

"Hestia, Hades, Persephone, Dad, Apollo, Freya, Hera, and Demeter."

"How does he turn them to stone?" Leo asked.

"All he needs to do is touch you," I muttered.

"So we need something that can break stone without turning to stone," Leo mumbled. "FIre doesn't break stone."

"Um, what beats rock?" Vati asked.

"Paper," Leo suggested. Vati and I glared at him. "You asked," he grumbled.

"Water," I gasped, jumping up. "Water erodes rock. Thank you fourth grade science class."

Vati chuckled. "Okay, so you just blast him with water."

I looked down at the floor. It was too simple. There had to be something we were missing. Oh yeah, duh. "Someone needs to distract him," I said. "Leo, you distract him. Vati you can back up Leo. I'll sneak up behind him."

"But how do we free the others?" Leo asked.

I groaned. That was the hard part. "Running water," Vati suggested. "That's how you save someone who was turned to gold."

"We could try that," I agreed. "Right now, we need to stop Ralph before he turns anyone else to stone."

"Agreed," Leo and Parvati said together. Parvati ran up the stairs to put Bobby in his crib.

* * *

I stood at my back door. through the window, I could see Ralph putting down another statue. I recognized it as Hermes. "Oh no," I murmured. "At this rate all the gods will be stone by the end of the day."

I saw Lav and Leo sneak up behind Ralph. "Hello, Ralph," Leo laughed loudly. "Hey, guess what?"

"What, Leo?" Ralph demanded, turning around.

"I never make mistakes. I thought I did once, but I didn't."

"That was a mistake," Ralph growled, slowly stepping forwards. Leo took a step back. I took this as my chance to come in. I quietly closed the door behind me.

"That's why it was fun-oh never mind," groaned Leo. "How about this joke. A blonde, brunette, and ginger are standing together in the ladies room. The brunette says, 'I'll be the first brunette to stand on Mars.' The ginger said 'I'll be the first ginger on Venus.' The blonde said, 'I'll be the first blond on the sun.' So the brunette says, 'You'll burn on the sun.' The blonde replies, 'I'll go at night.'"

"You are bad at jokes, Leo," Ralph admonished. I took another step forward. I heard a crunch. I looked down to see I had stepped on one of Kayla's dolls. The arm had popped off. Ralph started to turn around.

Raising my arms, I focused on the water all around me. It formed a giant wave that rushed towards Ralph. He quickly crumbled apart. "It worked," I grinned. The water had washed across the statues too. The gods and Freya collapsed to the ground. I rushed forwards to wrap my arms around my daughter. I felt strong arms wrap around me from behind. Apollo's hot breath hit the back of my neck. Everyone was all right.

** "****We did it!" shouted Leo.**


End file.
